By: Chris Fontan & Kyle Williams
While the Department of Labor’s New Overtime Rule and Regulations have garnered most of the mainstream attention, the federal government is set to enact changes to another key regulation in 2017, impacting thousands of U.S. employers. Earlier this year, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a Notice outlining forthcoming changes to federal EEO-1 Reports, including changes to the information that employers will have to report and changes to the deadline for filing the report.
Current EEO-1 Requirements
Governed by the EEOC, the federal EEO-1 Report is a compliance survey mandated by federal law that serves to collect data from private employers and government contractors about their women and minority workforce. Federal agencies use EEO-1 Reports to support civil rights enforcement and analyze employment patterns. Currently, the federal government requires an EEO-1 Report from:
(1) Private employers with over 100 employees;
(2) Private employers with less than 100 employees, if the employer is owned by or corporately affiliated with another company and the entire enterprise employs a total of 100 or more employees;
(3) Federal government prime contractors (subject to Executive Order 11246) with 50 or more employees and a prime contract; or
(4) First-tier subcontractors (subject to Executive Order 11246), with a first-tier subcontract amounting to $50,000 or more.
Currently, covered employers are required to submit an EEO-1 report that outlines the sex, race, and ethnicity of their employees. All EEO-1 reports must be submitted and certified no later than September 30th, annually, and employment data used to complete the report must be pulled from one pay period in July, August, or September of the current year.
Upcoming Changes
Under the new regulations, the EEOC has established a two-tiered component system. All previously required information—pertaining to the sex, race, and ethnicity of employees—is termed “Component 1” Information. The regulations add a new layer of reporting requirements—termed “Component 2” Information—which consists of certain pay and hours-worked data. Under the Rule, all EEO-1 private employers and federal contractors with 100 or more employees will be required to submit Component 1 and Component 2 data on their EEO-1 Reports. Federal contractors with between 50 and 99 employees will continue to submit Component 1 data, but will not have to furnish Component 2 data. Consistent with current practice, federal contractors with 1 to 49 employees and other private employers with 1 to 99 employees will be exempt from filing the EEO-1; they will file neither Component 1 nor Component 2.
The new regulations also alter the filing deadline for the EEO-1 Report. Historically, covered employers had to file their EEO-1 reports on or before September 30th of each year. Also, the Report had to include information from a “workforce snapshot,” taken during any single pay period between July 1st and September 30th. The new regulations change these requirements. Beginning with the 2017 report, the reporting deadline for all EEO-1 filers will be March 31st of the year following the EEO-1 report year—meaning the 2017 EEO-1 report will be due on March 31, 2018. (This change will align the EEO-1 with federal obligations to calculate and report W-2 earnings as of December 31st.) In addition, the “workforce snapshot”—the pay period when employers count the total number of employees for that year’s EEO-1 report—has been moved to October 1st—December 31st. So, while employers will count their employees during a pay period between October 1st and December 31st, they will report W-2 income and hours-worked data for these employees for the entire year ending December 31st.
Although the filing deadline for the next EEO-1 Report is March of 2018, employers are advised to be proactive and consult qualified labor and employment counsel about taking the necessary preemptive actions.